Yoshi's presents Hiromi
2014-11-02
Yoshi's
Jack London Square, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland, CA
7:00 PM, Sunday, November 2, 2014

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2014 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2014 event list! ☸ On to the next event! ☸

[7:05 PM lights down, announcements]

1. [7:06 PM] Warrior
2. [7:17 PM] Player
3. [7:31 PM] Dreamer
4. [7:41 PM] Margarita #
5. [7:56 PM] Firefly (solo)
6. [8:08 PM] Flashback
   [set ends 8:20 PM]

[9:05 PM lights down, announcements]

1. [9:06 PM] Move
2. [9:16 PM] Endeavor #
3. [9:27 PM] Wanderer
4. [9:37 PM] Seeker (solo intro; with multiple teases: Waters of March/monk tease, maybe ?Epistrophy?/Flight of the Bumblebee, others not ID'd)
5. [9:49 PM] Place to Be (solo)
6. [10:03 PM] Alive
   [set ends 10:14 PM]
    
   Encore
7. [10:16 PM] ? (repeat)
   [show ends 10:27 PM]

• Anthony Jackson: contrabass guitar;
• Steve Smith: drums, percussion;
• Hiromi Uehara: piano, # Nord keyboard.

At the conclusion of this afternoon's piano recital by JFO, my buddy Tom and I strolled down through the center of Cal to meet Ting in the RSF lobby, after which we headed to the car and then drove down to the Embarcadero towards tonight's date with Hiromi. Yesterday we discovered that Annex Burger has a symbiotic relationship with Beer Revolution, so tonight the dinner plan was burgers and beer.

Ting was jazzed to take on the Habañero Burger, while I settled on a reuben, and both were super yummy, though the average mortal might not be able to stomach the fiery pepper burger (much less pass the Atomc Challenge! On the beer front I quaffed a Line49? Nitro Stout. Very creamy smooth. Yum! Would have liked to sample another, but as with yesterday, we didn't budget enough time, so he hustled off to Yoshi's for the gig.

At this point the ticketed entry line was super-long, stretching almost all the way to the corner at ?Clay. Dang, well, knowing that it was a sellout for the early show tonight, I should have expected it would be crowded – even more so than last night's not-quite-sold-out late show – and maybe planned our schedule a little better. As it was, it was the thicket of early dinner yellow tags that killed us; we ended up having to split our group between a pair at Table 80 for us funfolks and a single for TC at 58 – the alternative was to sit in the farthest corner to Stage Right, no thanks! Awkward to have to split up, but that's the hand we were dealt. Oh well, dinner was a non-negotiable requirement!

The early show tonight was 100% different from last night's late show as far as the setlist goes, though it overlapped substantially (if not exactly) in style and syntax. Makes me happy to have caught this set! At the close of the early show, the announcer mentions that the late show has a few open seats, so we hustle back to the readmit line, attaining the third spot, not bad!

We wait there a good long while – at least 30 minutes – so I take advantage of the time to note copiously about the first set, yesterday's shows, and a few others in the backlog. All to be lost when Andronoter and/or SimpleNote refuse to shake hands and transfer my data until after I resubmit my credentials. Somehow this completely destroys everything I wrote during break. Doh! A large fraction of the blame falls on my shoulders though – in my frustration I ignored the dire warning messages without taking time to make proper backups of the new data. Can you say “Yo soy muy estupido?” Say it with me now. Good! And once more, with feeling!

Eventually we are readmitted, and being close to the head of the line, find a fine pair of seats waiting for us at Table 60. Is this good enough? Oh yeah, but I'd like to register a complaint: it appears that the house has reserved tables 49 to 54 for no one except their pets. Meaning that the average joe (us!) gets shut out, while the staff coming off shift and shysters flashing five to the doorman end up in the better seats. Could I have paid? Sure. Would I? No, I hate that kind of shit. Makes me rethink my patronage of this venue. But enough with my whining, “how was the late show?” you ask. Uh, well, prepare yourself for more whining: it was exactly the same as last night, only shorter. Friggin eh! Am I pissed about it? Well, just a little. Am I glad I stayed? Yeah, it was nice to enjoy the show from better seats. What you ginna do about it Holmes? Nothin'. Absolutely nothin'! And you know what? I'll be back the next time she comes to town. I'm hooked. Must be the Hello Kitty thing…

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2014 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2014 event list! ☸ On to the next event! ☸